Dangerous liaisons: Fanconi anemia and toxic nonhomologous end joining in DNA crosslink repair.

The proper choice of repair pathway is critical to tolerating various types of DNA damage. In a recent issue of Molecular Cell, Adamo et al. (2010), along with a second report (Pace et al., 2010), describe how the Fanconi anemia (FA) pathway is involved in preventing aberrant DNA repair. These studies suggest a potentially significant new opportunity for the treatment of FA. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.